If more than 1 Collector shows up at your store at the same time, what do YOU do?

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View Poll Results: If more than 1 collector shows up at your store at the same time, what do YOU do?

Voters

578. You may not vote on this poll

Share everything equally until the demand is best satisfied

22939.62%

Run down the isle and hoard all that you can

12822.15%

Hoard first, check that you got it all, then share with whoever's there

17830.80%

Hoard all that you can, then only give up stuff for trades (at that time or later)

If more than 1 Collector shows up at your store at the same time, what do YOU do?

Midnight Madness is coming, and we can honestly say we know what YOU are doing in the stores. As our 'Collector Etiquette Series' comes to an end, let's see if we can't review what we've learned and then predict what will happen on April 23, 2002 and for a while thereafter.

Here's some interesting statistics you might want to consider:

59% of our readers buy 3 or more of most soldiers, aliens, and droid figures.

But ironically 58% of our readers think something's wrong when a person is seen buying multiples of any figures - like me, walking out with 10 Clone Troopers at a time. - And the Geonosian Warrior is next, Baby!

Next, only 16% of the readers here are out at 7 or 8 in the morning when product is freshly stocked, and they are buying figures in the quanities of their preference, while 23% of our readers who have a choice would rather be sleeping - and only dreaming they got the Tusken Raider mother with child.

But while 42% of our readers think there is nothing wrong with wiping out the racks of every army builder in sight, if 16% of them are there first thing in the morning, then only 4% of our readers are getting ALL of the soldier figures shipped to their retailers!

(Don't you have enough Imperial Officers, yet?)

Some quick assumptions made in the analysis are: our readers who voted in each poll are the same survey sample.

59% OF the 42% who think wiping out the entire stock is their priviledge if they get to the store first, will actually put their morals into practice. That means 25% of you will wipe the racks clean of any Imperial Officers, Biker Scouts, Clone Troopers etc.

And of the 16% of you who are out waiting for the stores to open, 25% of those collectors will wipe everything out so that by 7:05 am there will be no more troops left at Wal*Mart, and by 8:05 am there will be none at Target!

That means 4% of all of you will have 100% of all the army builders until those four percent of collectors are completely saturated with a certain troop, alien, or droid style.

When asked to list your figures and how many you had of each, the majority of you had over 20 stormtroopers, and similarly rising quanties of other army builders, most notably soldiers for the Empire, with interest in Battle Droids and Clone Troopers on the rise. The Gungan Warrior saw some of those sales records, too. The Geonosian surely will !!!

With that in mind, and Midnight Madness just 2 weeks away (at the start of this poll) we want to survey each of you on how your overall experience in the retail chain stores goes down for you.

As SirStevesGuide draws together its final numbers about the current trends in "Collector Etiquette" out there, we're asking you, our readers, the really tough one: exactly how nice are you when you're out there in the toy isles?

If more than 1 collector shows up at your store at the same time, what do you do?

1) Share everything equally until the demand is best satisfied.

2) Run down the isle and hoard all that you can!

3) Hoard first, check that you got it all, then share with whoever's there.

4) Hoard all that you can! - then only give up stuff for trades (at that time or later)

5) Get what's left over, or count on other collectors to be kind to you.

I'll share equal amounts in proportion to how many people are there looking for figures while I am.

If anyone doesn't want multiples, I'll take as many as I can get.

And I'm not counting on anyone being nice, so I'm getting my pile of Geonosian Warriors and Clone Troopers together first - and you'll just have to beat me to them!

(but if you're there and you're nice, and you ask - versus complain -I'll be happy to give you some of mine. And actually, I asked everyone by the Star Wars figures before I even leave for the check-out lanes.)

If not they are GONE by 7:05 am and tough luck if you can't make it!

(Yestertoys.com is the best Online seller, shipping fast, and with prices better than any I've ever seen! - I've ordered from them 5 times.)

Based on my past collecting history (when I was a near completist and sometime multiple buyer), I voted "Hoard, then share".

But I think "Hoard" is the wrong term here, because if I am out to buy one of each figure from a particular wave, how can it be hoarding? We're probably only talking about 4 figs, I have every right to buy those 4 even if if there are only 1 of each on the pegs.

So hypothetically, if I'm standing at the pegs, 1 of each of the new ones in hand with NO more left while another collector arrives, I'd have to wish him or her better luck next time.

The best way to get the stuff is to "horde" when you first get in there, but as everyone will admit some figs are just 1 a case so you have to grab them quick. Its not scalping but at the end of the day like the previous poll, If you want the figs early you gota work to get them.
Star Wars collectors on the whole are a really good bunch, so if they can help you they will, but if they have a taun we and you dont it just means they got there first

I agree with Ceaser that it isn't exactly "hoarding" if your only getting one of each new figure. Take for instance the Bo Shek wave, if I happened to be at a store and they had just happened to put out a case, I'd take one of each, regardless of whether or not someone else was there. Unless there are army builders involved, I would only get 1 anyway. Other than that I'd take what to do into consideration for each given situation.

I think for the most part all of us would agree to sharing the find. Most SW collectors are good people, so I wouldn't have a problem giving the last Clonetrooper to the other guy, especially if I have 6 already.

So, when armybuilders aren't involved, I'd only get 1 of each anyway, so there wouldn't normally be a problem if another collector was there. If there were army builders, I'd take 1 of each to begin with, and then ask the guy if he wanted more than 1 and if so, I'd try to work out an agreement so as to split the remainder of the armybuilders 50/50, or something.

While I understand the "hoard first, then share" mentallity (probably brought on by fear of scalpers grabbing everything), I'm disturbed that so many SSG forumites are doing it. I see nothing wrong with getting what you want to get for trading or for your personal collection, but when there are other collectors there at the same time the attitude should be "share and share alike." If you are willing to split everything up evenly, who knows, you may just make a friend who down the line is willing to give you a hand when you show up at 8:01 after everything's gone.

"I'm just a YES man trying to make my way in the universe." - Jango McCallum

"Good dialogue and smooth editing are no match for a good YES man by your side, kid." - George Lucas

Unforunately it is not only the scalpers but my previous experience which lead me to vote hoard then share. I look for the best sculpt not card while one of my collecting buds is a carder (looks for best card and keeps in package). we have planned on getting at least two of every figure for each of us and have further planned to bring my fiancee and his wife along to midnight madness. We will assign specific fig/vehicles and anyother misc items to our group so that we only have to look for 1/4 of the entire list with the instruction to get 5-6 of each item so that after the "HARVEST" we can go to the back of the store and sortout who gets what. I always get best sculpt he always gets best card. in the case of a tie we sort everything out and the ties are then done as a choice by choice selection. I did this exact method with 3 collectors for the EPI mid/mad and it all worked out fine. everyone got what they wanted and we put all extras back were we found them. No other collectors seemed to get angry (there were others doing the exact same thing).

My experience at MM99 was a great one. Sure there were the greedy "collectors" who heard about how Ep1 toys were going to make them millions on Entertainment Tonight, then literally ran into the store and fought for every figure they could get their hands on. Fortunately there were only about 2 or 3 of them at the TRU I went to. (Plus, we had an on-duty policeman who just happened to be a collector also. Just his presence, in uniform, kept everything calm; even though he was filling his basket like everyone else.)

To those "collectors" who got bit in the behind, because they believed the hype about "E1 toys=early retirement:" GOOD, you deserve it!

Anyhoo, back to my point. Overall it was a very friendly atmosphere and there was a real sense of community, as everyone was pointing out figures someone had missed or digging for that extra Darth Maul for a lady with a child in the back. In fact some people had even grabbed extras of the "hot" figures to give to the people, like me, waiting patiently in the back for the madness to die down a little.

I went into the store with $60 and walked out with Anakin, Maul, Watto and Anakin's Podracer. Sure it is not an impressive collection and all of them became some of the most reviled of pegwarmers. But it was the sense of friendship and the feeling that we were all on the first step of a brand new adventure. That is what I remember most about MM99.

So, think of MM02 as sort of the poor man's Celebration2. Don't go there for the sole purpose of cleaning the racks, go there to make friends and just enjoy being a part of the Star Wars phenomenon.

Last edited by bigbarada; 04-08-2002 at 12:43 PM.

"To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence… When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." - C.S. Lewis

Originally posted by sithmagic21 but some of you guys really need to get a life.

I can say, from experience, that having a life is waaaay overrated. I had a life for over ten years. It was called the Army and I am so glad it is over now. So, I think I will just content myself with being a no-life loser, thank you very much.

"To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence… When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." - C.S. Lewis